07:20am  Early start for me as I’m helping builders who are here all day – so no trading today.

Market Update:

The main focus in the markets was the better than expected jobs data released in the U.S. on Friday and it would seem that traders are gradually waking up to the idea that an increase in interest rates is not such a bad idea. During most of this year when good economic news has been released there has been a perception that an optimistic outlook will cause the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates which in turn is perceived as a bad thing, hence the good news is bad news reaction. The reality is that when the rise does start it will only be 0.25% to begin with anyway so of no real consequence plus is generally accepted that there will be no return to the +5% rates of previous years.

So all this means that the main U.S. indices are continuing to look bullish with the S&P 500 in an Up trend on most of its higher timeframes and European equities are looking to start higher this morning despite mixed results in Asia overnight. On the crude oil markets, the U.S. WTI Crude ended down almost 2% on Friday after falling quite sharply on the Non Farm Payrolls numbers and is homing in on a minor support level at $43:50, it is currently sitting at $44:62 after subdued moves in the Asian trading session. The Gold price is continuing its falls as equity markets rise – it’s been in a bearish trend almost constantly since the middle of October and will soon be at the 5-year low of $1068 which we saw in July this year.